I.M. Pei, whose modern designs and high-profile projects made him one of the best-known and most prolific architects of the 20th century, has died. He was 102. A spokesman for Pei’s New York architecture firm confirmed his death to the Associated Press. Pei, whose portfolio included a controversial renovation of Paris’ Louvre Museum and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, died overnight, his son Chien Chung Pei told the New York Times.

Ieoh Ming Pei, the son of a prominent banker in China, left his homeland in 1935, moving to the US and studying architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard. After teaching and working for the US government, he went to work for a New York developer in 1948 and started his own firm in 1955.

The museums, municipal buildings, hotels, schools and other structures that Pei built around the world showed precision geometry（几何结构）and an abstract quality with a reverence for light. They were composed of stone, steel and glass and, as with the Louvre, Pei often worked glass pyramids into his projects.

The Louvre, parts of which date to the 12th century, proved to be Pei’s most controversial work, starting with the fact that he was not French. After being chosen for the job by the then president, François Mitterrand, amid much secrecy, Pei began by making a four-month study of the museum and French history. He created a futuristic（极其现代的）70ft-tall steel-framed, glass-walled pyramid as a grand entrance for the museum with three smaller pyramids nearby. It was a striking contrast to the existing Louvre structures in classic French style and was reviled by many French. A French newspaper described Pei’s pyramids as “an annex to Disneyland” while an environmental group said they belonged in a desert.

Pei said the Louvre was undoubtedly the most difficult job of his career. He said he had wanted to create a modern space that did not detract（减损）from the traditional part of the museum. “Contemporary architects tend to impose modernity on something,” he said in a New York Times interview in 2008. “There is a certain concern for history but it’s not very deep. I understand that time has changed, we have evolved. But I don’t want to forget the beginning. A lasting architecture has to have roots.”

Other notable Pei projects include the John F. Kennedy Library in Dorchester, Massachusetts, the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Dallas City Hall.

When Pei won the international Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1983, he used the $100,000 award to start a program for aspiring Chinese architects to study in the US. Even though he formally retired from his firm in 1990, Pei was still taking on projects in his late 80s, such as museums in Luxembourg, Qatar and his ancestral home of Suzhou.

1. What can we learn from the first three paragraphs?

A. Pei is famous for traditional designs in architecture.

B. Pei designed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

C. Pei set up his own firm with the help of a New York developer.

D. Pei put the elements light and glass pyramids into the Louvre.

2. What is the French attitude towards Pei’s job of the Louvre?

A. Positive.                

B. Neutral.            

C. Critical.            

D. Objective.

3. What is the purpose of Paragraph 5?

A. To explain Pei’s idea about the Louvre innovation job.

B. To list the modernity of the Louvre innovation.

C. To show Pei’s love for traditional culture.

D. To present Pei’s contributions to architecture in history.

4. What word can best describe Pei?

A. Productive and stubborn.                 

B. Generous and persistent.

C. Hard-working and humorous.             

D. Tolerant and considerate.

5. From which is the text probably taken?

A. A diary.        

B. An interview.    

C. A statement.      

D. A news report.

1. prolific   adj. 多产的；创作丰富的

2. Ieoh Ming Pei, the son of a prominent banker in China, left his homeland in 1935, moving to the US and studying architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard.

句子主干：Ieoh Ming Pei left his homeland.

译文：1935年，作为中国著名银行家之子的贝聿铭离开家乡，搬到美国，在麻省理工学院和哈佛大学学习建筑。

3. reverence   n. 尊敬；崇敬

The poem conveys his deep reverence for nature.

这首诗表达了他对大自然的深深崇敬之情。

4. pyramid   n. 金字塔；锥形体

5. revile   v. 辱骂；斥责

6. Paris’ Louvre Museum   巴黎卢浮宫博物馆

7. Pritzker architecture prize   普利兹克建筑奖